Told in Kvothe’s own voice, this is the tale of the magically gifted young man who grows to be the most notorious wizard his world has ever seen.

The intimate narrative of his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, his years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-ridden city, his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, and his life as a fugitive after the murder of a king form a gripping coming-of-age story unrivaled in recent literature.

A high-action story written with a poet’s hand, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that will transport readers into the body and mind of a wizard.

It’s like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.

Over the years, more than one person has recommended that I read The Name of the Wind. I actually added it to my TBR back in 2013! Sorry that I didn’t take anybody’s recommendation seriously until recently. Also sorry to Daniel that he had to tell me like 8,000 times to pick up this book before I actually did it. It’s just so big. But I did it.

Also, this is where I say something along the lines of “I hate every book that I pick out for myself but somehow love every book that Daniel ever recommends to me.” I feel like this is happening more and more frequently and maybe I should just let him pick out every book that I read.

Anyway. This book was very good.

I love Kvothe. I’m not even exaggerating. I might actually be in love with this fictional character. He’s such a good guy and he’s been through so much and how do I even put into words how much I love him. Just… imagine me sitting on my couch and incoherently mumbling about how much I love him. That was me for a good hour after I finished this book.

Aside from my total and complete adoration of Kvothe, I’m not really sure what I can say in my review. Maybe that the book is very well-written? Maybe that pretty much every character was great? (Except Ambrose, I hated Ambrose.) Maybe that I wish I could actually listen to Kvothe play his lute and sing a song? (There I go again about how much I love Kvothe…)

Honestly, I’m not even sure what I can say about this book that would do it justice, so please just take my word for it and read it if you haven’t.

Have you read The Name of the Wind? Do you love Kvothe as much as I do?Let’s talk in the comments!

35 thoughts on “Book review: The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss”

This is one of my favorite series! Put Wise Man’s Fear on your TBR, and then like the rest of us, you’ll be waiting for Rothfuss to put out book 3, lol. There is a small companion novel about Auri, but I haven’t read it.

Once you’re in the world you might as well hang out for awhile! Lol. That’s the nice thing about finding a series after the author has put out more than one already. When #3 finally comes out I’ll have to go back to the beginning and read all three as a continuous stream. Sigh, lol, but the story and writing are so good I really can’t wait.